Author: Wenzl, T.G., Moroder, C., Trachterna, M., Thompson, M., Silny, J., Heimann, G., Skopnik, H.
Source: Journal of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition, 34:519-523, May, 2002.
The most commonly used test for measuring gastroesophageal reflux (food coming back up from the stomach) is the pH probe which detects acidic material in the esophagus (food tube). However, this test does not document the reflux of other fluid in the esophagus. In this study, the investigators compared the pH probe study to a newer procedure (Done at the same time) called intraesophageal impedance measurement (IMP). This new test uses special probes on a catheter to detect fluid the movement and direction of fluid in the esophagus. In this study, a single custom made flexible catheter that could perform both a pH test and the IMP test was used to test 50 infants with reflux symptoms.
Over 318 hours of recording, the IMP test documented 1, 887 episodes of reflux while the pH probe recorded only 282 episodes of acid reflux. The authors conclude that most reflux episodes that occur in infants are undetectable by standard pH probe monitoring. The most frequent reason for the failure of the pH probe to detect reflux seen by the IMP was too short a duration of acid reflux episodes (less than 15 seconds). The most frequent reason for false positive detection of acid reflux on the pH probe was a misinterpretation of pH drops during eating or during the clearance of a previous reflux episode.
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